Fireplace damper



July 8, 1924. 1,500,154

A. P. ROBINSON FIREPLACE DAMBER Filed Aug. 1e.'1921 ATTORNEY 'in its closed position.

Patented duly 8, 1924.

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ALBERT 1. ROBINSON, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

FIREPLACE DAMFER.

Application filed August 16, 1921.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ALBERT P. ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fireplace Dampers, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to fireplace dampers, and its object is the provision of an inexpensively constructed, etficient and conveniently adjustable device of this character.

Other specific objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description.

The invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing,-

Fignre 1 is a transverse sectional view of a fireplace chimney connection with a device embodying the present invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan view of my improved damper device separate from the chimney, the damper proper being shown Fig. 3 is a view in rear elevation of the damper proper in the position in which it is illustrated in Fig. 4, and with the damper frame shown in longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 4c is a sectional view through H of Fig. 3. Fig.

5 is a fragmentary end elevation to illustrate the pivotal connection of the damper with the frame.

In carrying out my invention I provide to fit within the throat of a fireplace a frame 5 having a passage 6 enclosed by a front wall 7 a back wall 8 and end walls 9 which converge upwardly as shown.

The wall 7 is formed of an arcuate shape to afford an inner surface 10 which is concentric, or nearly so to the axis of the movement of the damper 11. Said front wall extends downwardly as an apron 12 and from the lower edge of the latter a bar element 13 protrudes forwardly to provide a support for the lint-el 14. The back wall 8 of said frame is provided with a rear wardly directed flange element 15 to seat upon the top of the back wall 16 of the fireplace. The damper 11 comprises a plate 17 of substantially the shape of the opening at the top of the frame but of somewhat greater width so thatwhen the damper plate is in its closed position, see Fig. 1, 1t

Serial No. 492,648.

having a shank portion 18 and a laterally disposed trunnion portion 19 which extends into an aperture 20 provided in the adjacent end wall 9 of the frame.

The trunnion portions of said arms are in axial alignment with each other, the parts thereof within the respective frame apertures being each desirably of the shape of a segment of a circle in transverse section to afford in its periphery a recess 21 between two bearing edges 21 The bearings 21 of the arm trunnions are arranged to seat upon horizontal sur faces, such as 2-2 in Fig. 5, at the bottom of the respective apertures when the damper is in the position in which it is represented in Fig. 1, whereupon the shanks 18 will be in substantially vertical positions and the center of gravity of the damper as a whole will be in a vertical plane projected between the bearing edges 21 of the arm parts 19. In proximity of the shank parts each of said trunnion parts of the arms are desirably of a polygonal shape in transverse section and engageable in a similarly disposed hole of an operating handle 24 which is disposed to have its axis substantially in a plane with the axes of the arm parts 18.

The handle may be attached to either of said arms.

The surface 10 abovementioned of the front wall 7 is arranged to be in proximity to the front edge of thedamper-plate so as to practically exclude the passage of smoke between such surface and the damperplate. The top of the front wall is engageable by the damper-plate to limit the opening movement of the movable damper in opposition to the unbalanced weight of the same when in the full open position in which it is represented by dotted lines A in Fig. 4t, whereat the greater portion of the weight of the damper is located in front of a vertical plane projected through the axis of the trunnion 19.

When in its mid-open position, indicated by full lines in Fig. 4, the damper is held in a stable condition through the medium of the spaced edges 21 of the trunnion bearing ,upon therespective seats 22 provided therefor in the frame walls 9. When the damper is in its closed position with respect to the frame, as shown in Fig. 1 and by dotted lines B in Fig. 4, the greater portion of the weight of the damper is to the rear of the pivot support of the same.

By the above described construction of the several parts of my invention and the peculiar arrangement thereof, it is apparent that the damper is retainable in three stable positions-open, partly open and closedby the positioning of the damper to have its center of gravity in vertical planes respectively located to the front, between, or to the rear of the bearing surfaces 21 of the trunnions.

l urthermore, the smoke passage afforded by my improved damper is directed in a single stream rearwardly over the top of the fireplace back wall 16. For adjusting the damper to regulate or stop the draft, the handle 24 may be manually controlled either directly or through the medium of a poker or other suitable instrument inserted into the fireplace.

The construction and n anner of control ling the damper will, it is thought, be understood from the foregoing description.

lVhat I claim, is

1. In a fireplace damper, a frame having a draft opening, a damper-plate provided in said frame for controlling the opening thereof, and a single pivot element adjacent each end of said damper-plate and disposed in axial alinement with each other, said pivots being supported upon bearings provided in said frame, said pivots and bearings being arranged and adapted to yieldingly retain the damper-plate in a position to partly close the draft opening of said frame, said pivots also being disposed to enable the damper-plate to be held by the weight thereof in its closed or full open positions with respect to said frame opening.

2; In a fire-place damper, a damper plate, arms depending from said plate, oppositely directed pivot bearing elements carried by said arms, a plurality of bearing edges formed in the periphery of each of said pivot elements, stationary non-circular bearings for said pivots and serving with the latter to yieldingly retain the damper plate in its medial position and enable the weight of the damper plate to effect the movements of the damper plate to its full opened or closed positions after the damper plate has been moved out of such medial position.

3. In a fire-place damper, a frame having a draft opening, a damper plate provided in said frame for controlling the opening 'thereof, a single pivot element adjacent each end of said damper plate and disposed in axial alinement with each other, and stationary noncircular bearings for said pivots, the portion of said pivots within the respective bearings being each of'the shape of a segment of a circle in transverse section to afford in its periphery a recess between two bearing edges, the bearing edges of said pivots adapted to seat upon horizontal surfaces at the bottom of said stationary bearings to support the damper plate in a partially open position.

4. In a fire-place damper, the combination with a frame, of a damper-plate, means depending from said damper-plate and pivotally connected to said frame for tiltably sup porting said damper-plate in a partly open position with respect to the frame opening, said means being disposed in such relations with respect to the damper plate that the weight of the latter effects closing and full opening movements of the damper-plate with respect to the frame when the damperplate is respectively moved in one direction or the other from its partly open position.

' 5. In a fireplace damper, the combination of a fine provided with an intake throat having side walls and end walls, a pair of trunnions turnable in the end walls, a damper-plate carried by said trunnions and extending thereabove and adapted to gravitate to either side of the vertical center of the trunnions and when disposed to one side of center to seat on one side wall of the throat to close the latter and when disposed on the other side of center to abut against the other side wall of the throat to fully open the latter, and means cooperating between the trunnion and one of its bearings for op posing free turning movement of the trunnion to either side of a central position, whereby said damper-plate may be held in an intermediate position.

6. In a fireplace damper, the combination of a flue provided with an intake throat having an apron extending downwardly from one side of the throat, a damper-plate adapted to extend horizontally across said throat to close same, trunnions bearing in said throat carrying said damper-plate and arranged therebeneath and to one side the longitudinal center of the damper-plate, whereby the said damper-plate will be caused to assume a nearly vertical position on turning the trunnion a short distance to one side of center to position the damper practically in alinement with the inner face of the apron and whereby the throat will be practically fully open.

7. In a fireplace damper, a damper-plate, a pair of trunnions carrying said damperplate and arranged therebeneath, bearings for said trunnions, one of said bearings having a flat bottom wall and parallel side walls and the trunnion seated in said last named bearing having a two-point contact with said wall when the damper-plate is in an intermediate position thereby opposing turning movement of the trunnion to either side of center and whereby on rotation of the trunnion to either side of center the trunnion will be caused to turn on one of the points of contact and the point of contact caused to shift laterally in the bearings to vary the position of the center of oscillation of the trunnions.

8. In a damper, a damper-plate, a pair of trunnions carrying said damperplate and arranged therebeneath, bearings for said trunnions, one of said bearings being in the form of elongated slots with parallel side walls and a flat end wall and the trunnion in said bearing formed with spaced contact points adapted to seat on the end wall to dispose the damper in an intermediate position and which contact points serve as centers of rotation of the trunnion on turning the trunnion to either side of center, the side walls of the bearings serving to guide the trunnion and acting in cooperation with the end wall and the contact point to shift the latter on turning the trunnion and thereby vary the position of the center of oscillation of the latter.

9. In a damper, a chimney throat, a pivoted damper therein, mounted to oscillate to either side of center and means embodied in the pivotal mounting of the damper whereby on turning the damper to either side of center the point of oscillation of the damper will be shifted to impart a lateral throw to the damper.

10. In a damper, a damper housing forming a chimney throat, a damper mounted to oscillate in said housing, and means embodied in the pivotal mounting of the damper operable on swinging the damper to either side of center whereby the damper is elevated when being moved into either its full open or closed positions.

11. A fireplace damper comprising a frame for the fireplace throat, a damper plate adapted to rest upon said frame and to cover the throat opening, a pivotal support for said damper plate located beneath the plate, the throat opening at one side being enlarged lengthwise suflicient-ly to permit downward swing of the damper plate through said opening.

12. A fireplace damper comprising a casing having a throat opening with its ends inclined towards each other, a pivoted damper plate adapted to close the throat opening, the pivot axis thereof being located intermediate its side edges and laterally offset from its plane, to thereby swing through one side of said throat opening;

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 6th day of August, 1921.

ALBERT P. ROBINSON.

Witnesses GENEVIEVE DILLAYE Bnr'rs, PIERRE BARNES. 

